Stock Market & Financial Investment News

On The Fly: Pre-market Movers HIGHER: Verint Systems (VRNT), up 6.5% after Globes says NICE Systems (NICE) in talks to buy company. Shares of NICE also up 7.4%. Also rising 9.6% are shares of Comverse Technology (CMVT), which has a plan in place to merge with Verint... Harry Winston Diamond (HWD), up 10.7% after deal to sell luxury brand diamond jewelry and timepiece division to Swatch (SWGAY)... Dendreon (DNDN), up 6%, potentially related to recirculation of positive comments made Friday by Bernstein as part of upgrade... Transocean (RIG), up 3.2% after disclosing Carl Icahn and affiliates are building a stake... UPS (UPS), up 1% after dropping bid to buy TNT Express (TNTEY)... LOWER: Apple (AAPL), down 3.3% after WSJ report of cutting orders for iPhone 5 components due to weaker-than-expected demand... Vera Bradley (VRA), down 3.6% after announcing resignation of CFO after Friday's close... DOWN AFTER EARNINGS/GUIDANCE: Hhgregg (HGG), down 7.2%.

News For AAPL;VRNT;NICE;CMVT;HWD;SWGAY;RIG;DNDN;UPS;TNTEY;HGG;VRA From The Last 14 Days

On The Fly: Midday WrapStocks on Wall Street were lower at midday, with the Dow falling about 1%. The market opened in negative territory and proceeded to gain additional downside momentum in early trading. Data on housing starts was not good, even accounting for bad weather in many areas of the country, and the prospect of interest rate increases on the horizon may have some fearing that the housing market recovery is in danger of stalling. Adding to the weakness in stocks may have been the further slide in crude oil prices, which pushed benchmark U.S. crude oil below $43 per barrel earlier in the session. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., housing starts plunged 17% to an 897K rate in February, widely undershooting expectations for starts to be down 2.4% to a 1.04M rate, but much of the slide was attributed to weather. Building permits rose 3% to a rate of 1.092M, which was better than the expected 0.5% growth to a 1.065M rate. In Europe, Germany's ZEW Center investor confidence index climbed to 54.8 from 53 last month, though that fell short of the 59.4 consensus forecast. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite index rose 1.6% to close at its highest level in over 6 years. COMPANY NEWS: Apple (AAPL) is preparing to launch an online TV service later this year, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. After the reports, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said he believes Apple's online TV service launch would lay the groundwork for an actual television launch sometime in 2016. Munster estimates that at an average selling price of $1,750, a television could add about 7% to Apple's 2017 revenue. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Black Diamond (BDE), which jumped 30% after the company reported was then expected quarterly results and guidance but also announced it has hired two banks to help it explore its strategic alternatives. Also higher was Esperion (ESPR), which rose 15% after the company's phase 2b study of ETC-1002, a product in development for patients with hypercholesterolemia on stable statin therapy, met its primary endpoints. Among the noteworthy losers was Himax (HIMX), which dropped 9% after BofA Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock two notches to Underperform from Buy. Also lower following its earnings report was magicJack (CALL), which fell 19%. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 152.00, or 0.85%, to 17,825.42, the Nasdaq was down 8.39, or 0.17%, to 4,921.12, and the S&P 500 was down 11.39, or 0.55%, to 2,069.80.